COVID-19 is once again spreading fast in central Europe, with the spread continuing in Eastern Europe, according to the situation as captured on the epidemiological map released on Thursday by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
For another week, Cyprus remains in the red category.
“Deep red” areas now have gone from covering a few countries to covering only a few countries, now also cover a significant part of Germany, Greece, Hungary and the Netherlands.
This week, the entirety or the majority of districts in the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Baltic States, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece are in the “deep red” category.
Countries in the red category include Germany (with the exception of the south-east which is in deep red), Poland (with the exception of the east of the country), Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Cyprus.
Meanwhile, the situation is better in France, Spain, Portugal and Italy that are mostly in the orange category. There are some red areas in Italy, Spain and France, but also some rare “green category” areas in Italy and Spain.
Malta meanwhile remains the only country that is in the green category for another week.
Orange zone areas are defined as the areas where the 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate is below 50 and the test positivity rate of tests for COVID-19 infection is 4% or more, or the 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate is between 50 and 75 and the test positivity rate is 1% or more, or the 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate is between 75 and 200 and the test positivity rate is lower than 4%.
Red zone areas are defined as the areas where the 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate ranges from 75 to 200 and the test positivity rate of tests for COVID-19 infection is 4% or more, or the 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate is more than 200 but less than 500 (when the cumulative rate exceeds 500 the area enters the “deep red” zone).
ECDC publishes relevant maps and data every Thursday, in support of the Council recommendation on a coordinated approach to the restriction of free movement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The maps are based on data reported by the Member States to the European Surveillance System (TESSy) by midnight on Tuesday.
